size matters

At least it does in the morning when I’m trying to juggle three appliances with large chargers in one outlet. From www.360electrical.com comes this handy little gizmo, which allows you to rotate the individual outlets. They are only $10 a piece. I found this invention on the House Beautiful website.

 

when options run out

An article in the Times reveals that people who have lost their homes are now running out of the funds to maintain their self-storage units. So all their worldly treasures are auctioned off to the highest bidder.

How terribly, terribly sad. If you’d like to read up on this new trend, please see the article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/business/11storage.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1210461095-y1AGwURymI5VD0kcLxgI%20A&pagewanted=all

go green and live rich

If you have not read any of David Bach’s work, you should. No matter your age or income. I found “The Automatic Millionaire” eye opening. It changed my perspective on how to save … and fit right in with what my Dad had counseled for years (Strange how it makes more sense in writing from someone outside your family … but I digress). “Smart Women Finish Rich” is also a helpful read. Altogether he has five books and a couple of workbooks that are very useful.

New to his series is one that I ordered from my library (which has free delivery of books … and is my favorite website now that most every dollar I have goes to support a mortgage, lol) is “Go Green, Live Rich.”

He challenges the notion that green decisions cost us more. He points out that in the long run we can save gobs of money by choosing sustainability over the same-old decisions.

I’ll give a few examples but encourage you to pick it up at the library if you have a chance.

He recommends canceling catalog subscriptions by going to www.abacus-us.com and choosing “customer opt-out.”

write left

I’m not entirely sure what that headline means but I am a tiny bit weary and thus little creativity.

I was a writer by trade for many years and then got into education and fundraising, both of which I love … I mean truly love. We had commencement this weekend and I cry when the student speaker tells her/his story. Those of you (tortured souls) who pay attention periodically also know that I was a journalist by trade and training.

Twenty years later my spelling and grammar attrocities would hardly enoble my J school, Northwestern.

I wrote lots in my last job, though it wasn’t a paid staff position on a publication … I just sent articles to different places (mostly trade) and they published them. Unlike all the years previously, they didn’t pay me.

So today I got a call from a juried professional publication that asked me to write about fundraising because as they did their research our institution kept arising in the mix.

I’m kind of excited about this. And the timing isn’t bad as I’m approaching my PhD “question” (wow, what an ordeal that is), research and dissertation. I’m not sure they will overlap but I’m kind of looking forward to writing again. I say that after writing all these course papers and my comprehensive exams (60 pages plus 45 pages of references, eegads). Yet I’m kind of giddy.

Let’s hope I get the gig.

small update on the house

Yes, I do remember that I’m supposed to be renovating a house. Who would have predicted this market for sales of the old one? Well, probably a whole lot of us but it seemed to slide so quickly.

So where am I? Well, with one mortgage too many. But aside from that, I will put up the old house eventually. I’m kind of hoping to see the bottom but that still may be a year out.

In the meantime, I’ve discovered the concrete surrounding the pool (new house) is unstable and needs to be redone. Oh joy.

The pool tile also needs to be redone because there are some leaks. Yes, more joy.

So I’ll have a pretty, stable pool. The work starts this morning.

 

my dreamish sink

Shortly after my posting on copper sinks I came across this lovely one from Overstock. But I have to ask myself, even with the discount, how in the world should it cost $2,000?

My investigation shows that there is a dramatic difference in quality among copper sinks but how do I know if this is the right one? And I cannot imagine what it would take for me to part with two grand for a sink that mostly will serve as a temporary receptacle of dirty dishes. I do like the apron sink … perhaps I can find the same style in a different material.

I guess the lesson here is that I am going to have to curb my aesthetic sense dramatically and up my practicality factor a good bit. Hmmm ….

 

to be or not to be — your own general contractor

I thought a GC was necessary for me because between work and school, I knew I did not have time to babysit the subs.

As it turned out, I’ve had to babysit the GC. And not all that successfully.

I did much of the research on my own for products and except when I couldn’t purchase items myself because they only sell to the trades, I bought my own fixtures — finding the very best price online and also saving myself the GC’s 15% markup.

So as I contemplate the renovation that will happen eventually on the interior of the house, I wonder: Do I have what it takes to coordinate subcontractors to oversee my renovation?

I’ve picked up a zillion books from the library on remodeling and green building. Many offer specific timelines that stage the project in the order that needs to happen for most efficiency. On the other hand, that also means applying for permits and meeting the permitting officers. Ensuring subs show up on time and in the right order. Providing all the materials at the right time so that, for example, kitchen cabinets aren’t being stored for weeks or aren’t weeks behind schedule.

I think I’ve just talked myself out of this hare-brained idea.

let there be post lights

Just two short days after placing my post light order at lampsplus.com (turns out I found an even better coupon and by ordering each separately paid only $84 each with no tax and free shipping), they arrived.

They are even more adorable and larger than they looked online — and they have a photo sensor for dusk-dawn lighting and are Energy Star rated with CFLs.

Next week I’ll have to run by the new house to install them. Adventures in electricity … ahem.

Also, my GC has disappeared. Not literally but at least from the completion of my job. We really just have the slate tile (which some of you know I chose and brought home a few dozen tiles to show him the pattern), a ceiling fan installation and the restoration of the sprinkler system (which draws from the lake only when it’s above a certain level so it’s not operable when we’re having drout conditions).

The amount of my last draw is far more than his costs to finish … so I can’t figure out what’s keeping him. Since I am not really in a hurry, I guess I take solace from the fact that a few thousand remains in my account until he gets his act together.

The funny part is that the last time he saw me (four or five weeks ago, intending to finish the following week), he asked when we start the interior renovation.

Is he kidding me?

He can’t possibly think I’ll use him again. I probably shouldn’t type this online. I may never see that slate porch, lol.

 

copper sinks

Bronze and copper may well be on their way out (as some trade publications have predicted) but I really do like them. I have bronze fixtures at the beach and a really cool copper sink (it’s about 20 inches deep by about 12 inches wide at the top, in an inverse cone shape with a palm tree embossed). It’s basically a bar sink because the kitchen is so tiny in this studio. It’s also a gigantic pain to keep looking spiffy because it has started to patina. Who is going to take the time to polish a sink at the beach (never mind at home)?

Now, on external fixtures, patina makes sense and adds character. In your kitchen sink it just looks kind of, um, unclean.

And yet I don’t think I want to go with stainless. I’ve explored many options, including composites, granite, soapstone, enamel and others. Some are ridiculously expensive. I mean, after all, it is just a sink. And it’s not like I actually wash dishes.

It’s kind of like the oven. I only have one because it came with the house. At least a year after moving into this house, I was having a wedding reception for friends and another friend fired up the oven to bake appetizers. The “new oven” smell was a dead giveaway that I had never actually used it. Except for big parties at the house, it hasn’t been used again.

I’m also reminded of the treadmill which handily serves as a spot to hang clothing.

But I digress. What sinks have you had and which do you recommend? The new Kohler with the split divide (it’s a short divider so you can fill the whole sink with water at one time) is pretty nifty too.

 

certified green home simply divine

Wow, I had the pleasure of visiting one of the few LEED certified homes in Florida this weekend. I did not know this in advance but instantly upon entering the house I recognized that it was green green green.

The couple who painstakingly replaced a home damaged by hurricanes to make it friendly to the earth are a delight and were kind enough to answer my four thousand questions and provide excellent resources. They confirmed my experience that there aren’t too many professionals in our area who are familiar with green residential work.

I think what was fun for me was to see in person what I’ve been researching and reading about for the past year. Not only is the house energy efficient it is also absolutely gorgeous.

I was inspired to continue down this green trail even with all the bumps in the road. Since they were able to start from the ground up, they were able to control most decisions that are a little trickier with a remodel. But their home is a testament to how every decision in the process can influence sustainability.